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I'm leaving NAB stronger, Clyne says

Evan Schwarten

After more than five years as the head of National Australia Bank, Cameron Clyne is confident he's leaving the lender in a better place than he found it.

Mr Clyne, 46, presided over his final earnings result as NAB chief executive on Friday, announcing a record $3.15 billion first half cash profit.

While analysts were disappointed with some of the details - including a mere one per cent increase in earnings from its core Australian division - the result was a substantial improvement on NAB's position when he took the helm in 2009.

"The only thing I strove to achieve was to leave the bank in a stronger place than where it was when I started," he said.

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"It's unequivocal on any metric this bank is stronger than it was five and a half years ago."

Mr Clyne ascending to the role during the fallout of the GFC, inheriting a string of issues, especially with the bank's troubled UK operations.

In his first six months at the helm, the bank suffered a bad debts charge of $1.8 billion, which fell to $528 million in the latest result.

Morningstar analyst David Ellis said Mr Clyne had driven a significant turnaround in the bank's performance and culture.

"The bank is significantly less risky than it was five years ago, that is a key achievement" he said.

"In the 20 years before Cameron Clyne was appointed CEO, NAB went through a long period of sub-par performance with embarrassing missteps, but since he started there has been no nasty surprises and that's a positive."

Mr Clyne caught market watchers by surprise in April, announcing he would retire at the end of July to spend more time with his family.